The Final Prank
by AmandaHyde
Summary: Lily's group and James' group are two of the most popular at Hogwarts. Except they hate each other. What will happen when the girls think of one last prank to play before leaving hogwarts? A prank that is more difficult and has more consequences than the girls originally thought.
1. The Prank

**A/N: This is the first Fanfiction I've written in about 10 years! I hope you enjoy it and look forward to reading you're feedback and critiques.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize!**

Ever since Lily walked through platform 9 ¾ seven years ago and met her three best friends and fellow Gryffindors, Jill, Farren, and Janet, life had been very easy. Even though her parents were muggles, magic came easy to her. She hardly ever wanted anything because she always seemed to get what she wanted right as she wanted it. The same went for her three friends. Other girls at Hogwarts didn't like them so much and called them pretty perfect snobs and boyfriend stealing sluts. These two names were hardly the truth though. No other girls ever attempted to get to know them before labeling them as snobs and as for the boyfriends stealing, well, they never actually tried to steal boyfriends from anyone, but all Lily had to do was tilt her head and lightly flip her long crimson hair to get a boy she liked to ask her out, and it was just as easy for her friends. Although the other girls in school didn't seem to like them too much the four girls didn't hold any ill-will towards any of them and if someone ever approached them they were always pleasant and polite, except of course if it was a Marauder.

The four Marauders were the one exception to the rule. Lily and her friends despised them and the Marauders despised them right back. And even though all of the girls at one point or another acknowledged how ridiculously handsome they were they would never for a second consider being nice or pleasant to them. Besides, the boys were known players. They went through girls much more often than the girls went through boys. The rest of the school was perfectly fine with these two attractive and popular cliques hating each other because otherwise they would have most likely ended up dating each other.

So why do the two Gryffindor groups loathe each other so much? It certainly didn't start out that way. In fact at the beginning of first year they were somewhat friends, but that all changed when the boys started to become pranksters and it was at the expense of Lily and her friends. It started out as an annoyance. The girls were already starting to separate themselves because they thought the boys were immature, but it was the prank they pulled during winter that first year that cemented the hatred for the boys so much. In the middle of a quidditch match the boys dropped the girls' pants and they all stood embarrassingly in their underwear frozen with a spell. They couldn't even bend down to pull up their pants. It was a new low and probably the lowest the boys had ever gone or would go again. Even though the boys received two months worth of detention for the prank it just wasn't enough for the girls. The boys never apologized and in fact kept playing pranks on the girls. Eventually the girls began retaliating and the negative feelings between the two groups grew with each passing year.

On the night that our story begins, Lily, Farren, Jill, and Janet were bored in their room and decided to make a bet. A stupid bet. It was just a game with very few rules, only two in fact; No sleeping with the enemy and don't fall in love. Two rules that were much harder to follow than they originally thought.

Janet, Farren, and Jill were all sitting on the floor of the Gryffindor 7th year girls dormitory when Lily burst through the door laughing. She slammed the door shut behind her and fell onto Farren's bed clutching her stomach. The girls looked up at her with raised eyebrows.

"Lily, what could possibly be so funny on this boring day?" Farren asked while pulling her long white blonde hair back into a ponytail. Lily attempted to catch her breath before responding.

"One of the Marauders pranks just backfired on them. It was great! I have no idea what they were trying to do, but they all ended up drenched in something that looked like honey and they couldn't get it off," Lily said enthusiastically, "And I think Peter is allergic to whatever it was because he started to puff up like a balloon." She paused to laugh some more. "I sure hope he never gets fat because boy was he ugly!"

The girls stared at her unimpressed and Lily rolled off the bed and down to the floor with them.

"Geez, what is the matter with you guys?" Lily asked them more seriously.

"Nothing we are just so bored. We don't know what to do with ourselves," Jill said. Lily pulled on one of Jill's auburn spiral curls as she thought.

"Well there is homework you could do if you're really bored, or go tan by the lake," Lily suggested. It was mid February and one of the first sunny days, but Lily shivered at her own suggestion.

"We're so bored we already did our homework and it is way too cold still to tan. Lily you're supposed to be the brains here can you think of a better idea? Please?" Janet asked standing up to go get a sweatshirt from her trunk as if the thought of going outside in a bathing suit had actually made her cold.

"We could think of a prank to play on the Marauders…" Lily barely finished before the girls were nodding in approval. The girls all sat up a little straighter in excitement.

"We should get them good one last time before we graduate," Janet said and then pointed to her hair which was usually shoulder length and jet black, but now also contained royal blue streaks, "because these are permanent and I have to get revenge before we leave Hogwarts."

"I actually like the blue streaks though. They match your eyes," Farren said thoughtfully and Lily agreed. Janet grimaced and ran a hand through her black and blue locks.

The four girls bounced ideas off of each other for about an hour before Jill finally had an idea that they were all too curious about not to be interested in.

"We could play a prank on them that could also be a bet for us," Jill said tentatively, "It might take awhile to do it and it would be really hard, but it would definitely keep us occupied for the rest of the year."

"Spill," said Farren. Jill stood up and walked over to her wardrobe and reached up to grab something from the top shelf, but Jill was super short and couldn't reach it. She looked over at Farren who was the tallest of the four for help, but she was already on her way and pulled down a scarlet drawstring bag and handed it to Jill before returning to her spot on the floor.

"First, we could write down the names of the boys and each of us could draw one," Jill began holding up the crimson bag, "And then we try to make whoever's name is on that piece of parchment fall in love with us before graduation. Then, the week before graduation, we tell them about the prank and dump them in front of the whole school. That way they can watch us strut our stuff for the last week."

The girls stared at Jill speechless.

"Jill that's damn near impossible though. They hate us and we aren't their biggest fans either in case you forgot. It would be so unpleasant. Pranks are supposed to be fun," Farren said with a shudder. Jill rolled her hazel eyes.

"Oh come on, they are dicks, but they're hardly painful to look at," she said. "And it would keep us occupied."

"It would be too hard," Lily broke in.

"Come on guys. I know we can do it and you guys know it too. We could get any guy we wanted."

"Yeah, but they are the Marauders…" Janet said quietly.

"Yeah the same Marauders that we were friends with once upon a time. The only reason we aren't anymore is because WE stopped hanging out with THEM. We should at least try," Jill said.

The girls sat in silence for a few minutes while they thought about it. Jill was right when she said it would be hard, but with the planning and effort it would take it they definitely wouldn't have another boring day. Slowly one by one the girls began to smile as the mentally accepted the task.

"Okay let's do it," Farren said. All the girls agreed and began writing down the boys names and dropping them into the bag.

Farren drew first. She held her breath as she unfolded the paper and let out a small sigh of relief as she turned it around to show everyone. She pulled Remus.

"Probably one of the easiest ones," she said. Remus was the one marauder that the girls didn't outright despise, though they didn't talk to him, he at least sometimes tried to be courteous towards them.

Jill drew next and showed Peter to everyone with a groan. Nobody wanted to draw Peter. He was sort of the misfit cousin that no one really wanted around, but were obligated to hang out with. Lily was growing more nervous by the second. The one name she absolutely didn't want to pull was still in the bag. She bit her bottom lip as Janet put her hand in the bag. She pulled it out and looked at it silently with a worried but determined look on her face. She flashed the paper that said Sirius to everyone. Lily felt herself pale. She got James, the hardest one.

"Okay so that leaves you James, Lily," Jill said.

"Okay," she said quietly. James and her had a history that none of the other girls knew about and it made it damn near impossible for her to do this.

"Lily that will be easy for you since you and James are always together anyways working on head school things and stuff," Farren said. Lily held back a sarcastic laugh and shook her head.

"Any rules?" Janet asked.

"Yeah, just two," Jill replied, "Do not sleep with them and don't under any circumstance fall in love with them." All of the girls laughed at the thought. Those would certainly be easy rules to follow, or so they thought.

"And whoever doesn't complete the prank or breaks any of the rules has to do what the rest of us say for a whole month," Janet quipped. This was pretty unbearable since the girls were such high maintenance and quite ruthless when it came to bets, but even more that this consequence was a matter of pride. None of the girls wanted to lose this bet. None of the girls wanted to face rejection which they were so unfamiliar with.

"So you guys ready for this?" Jill asked. They all nodded with mischievous smiles on their faces, but deep down Lily was already thinking that this was a bet she was going to lose. There was no way should could repair the damage done between her and James before graduation.

Lily told her friends to go on down to dinner without her. She suddenly wasn't feeling very hungry. She refused to lose and began brainstorming ideas as she jumped into the shower to prepare for the Head meeting that night that she had with James.

**A/N: Well there is the first chapter. I will be posting the other one tonight sometime! Hope you enjoyed it and please review!**


	2. Head Boy and Girl

**A/N: Here is chapter 2 for you! I'll be trying my best to upload two chapters a day. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize!**

**Chapter 2: Head Boy and Girl**

**FLASHBACK**

Lily smoothed out her black pants as she walked through platform 9 ¾ and looked up at the scarlet steam engine with a big smile on her face. It was finally her 7th and final year at Hogwarts and she couldn't be more excited.

She glanced around at the other students saying goodbye to their families and couldn't help but laugh at the little tiny ones that were clinging onto their parents for dear life. She had done the same thing her first year.

She climbed up onto the train and walked down the tiny hall towards the compartment that her and her friends shared every year. As she opened the compartment door the smile was wiped from her face. Sitting in her usual seat was Sirius Black and along with him were the rest of the Marauders. They stopped talking upon her arrival and looked over at her with disdain.

"What are you doing here Evans?" Peter asked and Lily's blood began to boil as her face flushed hot with anger.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? This is my compartment!" she practically screamed.

"Lily, you can't own a compartment on this train," Sirius said calmly and glanced away from her as if he were bored.

"You know what I mean, Black, we _always_ sit here," she said trying to calm herself before she hexed one of them.

"You can't prove that," Remus said.

"Yes I can," Lily said and cut through them towards the window and pointed to the Lily+Janet+Jill+Farren=BFFE etched into the sill. They carved it there when they were 12 years old.

"Oh well, we're still not leaving so you might as well get lost," Sirius said still not looking at her. She was about to say something nasty to him when Janet popped her head in the doorway.

"Finally. I've been trying to find you. We got another compartment towards the back," she said.

"But…" Lily said helplessly as she pointed to the marauders.

"I know Lils, but we already tried. Don't waste your time with these losers, let's go," Janet said and stepped out of the doorway.

Lily angrily began to follow her and as she stepped one foot out of the compartment she spun around to glare at the boys before she walked away when she noticed James who still hadn't said a word. He was staring open mouthed at something below her right shoulder. She looked down and saw her Head Girl badge glimmering proudly. She looked back at James with a look of triumph, but faltered when she finally noticed that he was wearing a nearly identical badge, the one that was designated for the Head Boy.

"Oh my god. You're Head Boy?" Lily asked with disgust. She could not picture them having to work together all year, but before she got an answer Janet grabbed her arm and yanked her away from the compartment.

END FLASHBACK

Lily bit her lip as she walked slowly towards the Head Boy and Girl meeting room. She was nervous. These meeting hadn't gone well since October. It wasn't that they were incredibly rude to each other in them, Dumbledore made sure that the two of them agreed to attempt to get along, but they were awkward and painful nonetheless.

There meetings were usually short and Lily was thankful for that because with this new bet going on she really needed to come up with a plan and right now that only included trying to make James not hate her so much.

"Well, here goes nothing," she whispered and opened the door to the elaborately decorated red and gold meeting room. James was laying down on one of the plush velvet couches waiting for her.

"Bout time you got here Evans. I've been waiting for ten minutes," he said sitting up. She tried to catch his eyes to read his mood, but he avoided her.

"It's not my fault you're early, James, 'cause I'm not late," she said trying her hardest to be nice.

"Oh right, I forgot, you're little miss perfect," he said and then finally looked up and met her eyes, "And you do realize that generally refer to me as Potter right?"

"Well, it's not the first time I've called you James," she said sitting down the couch that faced off with his and opened up her Head Girl folder.

"I think I prefer Potter from you," he said with a sneer, "change is never a good idea."

Lily cringed a little at his words but tried to play it off as repositioning herself to sit criss-cross applesauce.

"Maybe you're right. But we do all need to grow up sometime, right? I don't see the harm in using your first name," she said and when he didn't say anything back she looked up at him. He was looking at her with a weird expression on his face that she couldn't quite read. "What?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing, let's just get started _Lily_," he said over emphasizing her name and not exactly in a nice way. Lily ignored him, so he continued, "What exactly are we supposed to be doing tonight anyway?"

"You didn't listen to Dumbledore last night did you?" she asked trying to keep the accusatory tone out of her voice.

"I had other things on my mind last night. Why, what did he say?"

"He told us to start planning the spring event. He wants to hold it at the end of March or early April," she said leaning over to put her elbows on her knees. Her long red hair fell into her face and she pushed it back pulling it into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. She glanced over at James who was looking at her with arched eyebrows.

"What?" she asked for the second time that night.

"Nothing," he said quickly, "The spring event? That's easy. The spring dance, everyone always looks forward to that. We won't even have to announce it."

Lily wiped her palms on her pants. She had never been so self conscious before and the way James kept looking at her made her feel as if she was in the Tell Tale Heart and he knew everything she was planning. She took a calming breath before responding.

"Yeah, I guess we could do that. It would definitely be easy to plan for and with N.E.W.T.S. coming up we could use all the extra time we could get to study," she paused for a moment suddenly getting and idea, "Which reminds me, I'm doing terrible in Transfiguration. Think you could help me out? Please?" she asked and put on a small pouty lip. She hoped he couldn't tell she was holding her breath as she waited for his response.

"You're having trouble in a class? I don't believe it," he said rolling his eyes and then as if a sudden revelation hit him his eyes pierced her like a bolt of lightning, "Unless you have some ulterior motives?"

His presumptuous air irritated the hell out of her. She let out a disgusted sigh before she could stop herself, but went with it anyway. He would never believe that she really wanted to be friends if she made it too easy anyway.

"Just forget it. I'll ask William to help me," she said as she looked back down at her folder. William Fitz was also a 7th year, but in Ravenclaw. He came 2nd in Transfiguration, after James. He was also one of Lily's ex-boyfriends. She knew very well how much James hated William and only felt slightly bad for using it against him now.

"No, I'll do it," James said quickly and avoided her gaze. "But back to this dance, should we start planning tonight or just put it off till tomorrow?"

"I think we should at least pick a theme. That way we can brainstorm ideas before our next meeting," she said. James' eyes lit up.

"I've got it," he said putting his hands in air as if to frame words, "Zombie Apocalypse."

Lily couldn't help but give a small laugh, but her face changed to one disbelief when she realized that he was serious.

"That is a terrible idea," she said bluntly. James fell open.

"What? No it's not, its brilliant!" he said. Lily was shaking her head slowly.

"Have you thought this all the way through?" she asked. He gave her a look that she read as 'Don't you know who I am?' and sat back on the couch again.

"I always think things through," he said smugly. Lily felt the urge to point out several times when he hadn't, but stopped herself. Bringing up their past would certainly not help her future.

"Really?" she asked. "You thought about asking a gorgeous girl to the dance, picking her up, and watching her walk down the stairs to meet you covered in blood and guts and decay and maggots with her hands up in air saying arrraarrrrrrghghh," Lily said doing her best zombie impression.

James mouth was hanging open slightly in surprise as he thought about it. Then he wrinkled his nose and tightened his upper lip.

"Okay, so perhaps that wasn't the most well thought out idea I've had," he said caving in.

"You think?" Lily said teasingly, but with those words the somewhat pleasant moment between them was broken and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Actually I can think of one other idea that I certainly didn't think through at all," he said. Lily's mouth gaped in surprise at his sudden hostility.

"Perhaps we should just call it a night and talk themes tomorrow," she said slowly.

"Sounds good to me," he said coldly.

They both grabbed their folders and walked towards the door with Lily in the lead. She knew she had to do something. She had to address what just happened if she ever expected things to get better between them because if they didn't she could never complete the bet. Abruptly, she stopped and turned around. James nearly ran into her, but stopped himself just in time and took a step back.

"James," she said and watched as he rolled his eyes, "James will you look at me please."

To her surprise James met her eyes without a rude or sarcastic remark.

"What?" he asked.

"I know that it's been awhile since everything happened, but I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Really I am and I should have said back then, but I was so mad at you that I couldn't," she paused as she watched his eyes soften slightly, but he said nothing. He offered no apology in return. "I know that we could probably never be friends again, but I just wanted you to know that."

James nodded one slow nod and Lily took that as her queue to leave. They walked back to the Gryffindor common room together in silence, but when they got there James stopped her from entering and Lily's heart skipped a beat.

"We probably shouldn't go in together," he said and Lily felt her shoulders round in defeat.

"Right, of course," she said and got the sudden urge to ask, "Did you ever tell them about us?"

James shot her an incredulous look.

"If my friends ever found out my lips were touching yours I would have to have them surgically removed," he practically spat at her. Before Lily could stop herself she reached up and slapped him hard across his face. He grabbed his cheek and glared at her.

"I'll come in a bit after you," Lily said trying to regain her composure. James said nothing as he gave the password and walked through the portrait hole.

Suddenly she didn't think it would be quite so hard to dump him in front of the entire school. He was a prick and he deserved it.

A few moments later Lily went through the portrait hole herself and ran straight into James who was standing in front of it like an idiot.

"God Potter watch it," she said and glanced around him to see Farren snogging with Remus in the corner. "Oh that is not fair hers was too easy," she accidentally said out loud. James turned around to look at her.

"What are you talking about Evans?" James asked eyeing her suspiciously.

"Nothing," she said trying to brush it off. "Now get out of my way, _Potter_," she said putting as much venom into the word Potter as she could and slammed past him and ran upstairs to her bed.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed and please review!**


	3. Questions

**A/N: Here is chapter 3! Please R/R. Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize… unfortunately.**

**Chapter 3 – Dates and Questions**

FLASHBACK

After the sorting hat finished sorting all the first years into their houses and Dumbledore made his usual speech the plates piled high with a delicious smelling feast. Unfortunately for Lily her stomach was in such knots she couldn't eat a single bite.

"Lils, why aren't you eating?" Janet asked. She was sitting on lily's right, Jill was sitting across from Lily, and Farren was across from Janet. The way they always sit.

Lily put her head in her hands and let out a deep sigh.

"I can't believe Potter is head boy," she muttered miserably. "I was so excited to be Head Girl, but there is no way we can work together all year. I can't believe Dumbledore picked him after all the crap he always pulls. James is so immature and ignorant. Please pinch me so I know for sure this is a nightmare."

"It's a nightmare whether or not you're sleeping," Janet said sympathetically, "I feel for you." Lily picked her head up from her hands and offered a small smile to Janet.

"Well, I guess you guys are going to have to learn to get along. It's not like you have much of a choice in the matter," Jill put in. The girls turned their eyes on her.

"Not helpful Jill," Farren said, "This is going to really suck for Lily. We're talking about James Potter, King of the Assholes." She turned her attention back to Lily. "The two of you aren't going to be able to work together to get anything done. If I were you I would ask Dumbledore to reconsider his decision."

"Or maybe you guys can work through your differences and we can get through a year prank free," Jill said. Again the girls turned their attention to Jill. "I'm just saying. Try to think positive. I doubt Dumbledore will reconsider. He usually knows what he's doing."

Lily shrugged her shoulders and her three friends began to argue about how best to handle the situation when a loud noise at the end of the table caught her attention. She glanced over to where James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting. They were all laughing.

'At some stupid immature joke, no doubt,' Lily thought to herself. 'Why does he have to be such a prat.'

At that moment James looked over at Lily and caught her gaze. She narrowed her look into a glare just as James made a smug look and leaned towards Sirius, whispering something in his ear. Lily looked away and shook her head. They were so immature.

Lily briefly thought about trying to eat something, but when she glanced around the table is appeared as if everyone was already finished. She grabbed a few rolls to eat once she got back up to the common room.

"So are you going to just tough it out?" Janet asked her.

Just as Lily opened her mouth to answer, however, something warm and wet splattered against her cheek. Her mouth was held open in a kind of gasp as she heard James and Sirius start laughing hysterically in their seats. She wiped her cheek with a napkin as she turned towards them seething.

"JAMES POTTER! YOU STUPID GIT, I OUGHT-" but at that moment Dumbledore stood up looking slightly amused. Lily was still fuming as he told the great hall to head back to their respective common rooms and for the first years to follow the prefects.

"-and I need to speak to the Head Boy and Girl in the room on the side of the hall," Dumbledore finished.

As Lily heard this she glared hard at James who smiled back and shrugged as Sirius patted him on the shoulder. She sat in her seat trying to calm herself as the hall cleared out. Before Janet left she muttered a good luck into Lily's ear. She sure was going to need it. Lily finally peeled herself up from her seat when she was one of the last people left in the hall and trudged over to the room. She pushed open the door and was annoyed to see James sprawled out on the couch. Dumbledore still hadn't shown up yet.

"So, Evans, I hear you and William broke up," he said with a cocky smile.

"What's it to you, Potter?" she asked coldly. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Just wondering if he finally figured out what a bitch you really are," he said nonchalantly.

Lily bit down on her lip to avoid screaming at him, but her hands grabbed the closest thing she could find, which happened to be a large, intricately painted vase, and threw it at his face with all her might. To her dismay the vase stopped in mid air and Lily looked over to see that Dumbledore had finally entered the room. Lily looked down at her feet ashamed of her behavior. Dumbledore, however, said nothing as he placed the vase delicately back where she had found it.

"Please sit down Lily," Dumbledore said motioning to the couch where James had finally sat up. She dragged her feet and sat as far away from James as she could. "James. Lily. As Head Boy and Girl you two are supposed to set an example for the rest of the students."

"But Dum-"

"Quiet James. Please just listen," Dumbledore said. "I realize that this is not an easy pairing for the two of you, but I stand by it and I expect the two of you to get along. If you can't do that then I see no reason for the two of you to be able to graduate." Both Lily and James mouths fell open in shock.

"But I have nearly perfect grades," Lily said.

"And Head duties aren't a part of graduation requirements," James argued. Dumbledore put his hands up to silence them.

"I stand by it. It is my choice. I am the headmaster after all," then he looked at them very seriously, "Some things are bigger than the trivial fighting that goes back and forth between you and your friends. Please just try to be nice and get along. You never know, maybe you two will end up actually liking each other," he finished with a wink. "Now I have to excuse myself. Please think about what I've said."

Lily and James sat silently as Dumbledore left the room and then looked over at each other.

"I can be pleasant during Head duties if you can," James surprised her by saying and held out his hand. She grabbed it firmly.

"Agreed."

END FLASHBACK

The next morning Lily woke up angry. She hated this stupid prank and she hated Jill for thinking of it, well, not really, but still she didn't like it. If it wasn't for her ego and pride she would quit it all together. At least the other girls got to have fun with it. Lily sure wouldn't mind having to make out with Remus for a prank, but no. She was being forced to face the one thing she'd been trying to avoid for the past four months.

Lily tried to think positively as she got out of bed to get ready for the day. It was early and she thought she would be the first one down to in the common room, but Remus was sitting on the couch reading. He looked up from his book and smiled at her. Lily instinctually glanced around the room for danger before offering him a small smile back. She turned around to head back up to the dorm.

"Lily wait a second," Remus spoke up behind her. Lily turned back to face him. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Lily walked slowly over to the couch and sat down beside him. She assumed he wanted to ask about Farren so she started the conversation.

"So, what's going on with you and Farren?" she asked giving him a small nudge. Remus laughed.

"Nothing at all. She was acting weird and coming on to me all strong so Sirius dared me to snog her," he said laughing. Lily felt her brows rise, but said nothing. "Anyways, I've actually been meaning to ask you something for awhile and since we're already over half way through our final year, I think it's about time I got the courage up to do it." She felt a little confused, but ushered him to go ahead and he did. "Well you know there is a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to put our differences aside and go with me?"

Lily was truly shocked and her mind was reeling. Hogsmeade was an official Hogwarts date. Did Remus had feelings for her? She tilted her head as she took in his appearance. He shifted slightly nervous under her gaze, but he was still undeniably handsome.

"But what about your friends," she asked, "They aren't exactly my biggest fan."

"Well I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't always agree with them," he said with a smile.

Lily began to shrug her shoulders. She wasn't sure it was a good idea. Farren would be mad that she was interfering with her part of the prank, but then again a girl does what she has to do to complete one and she thought maybe, just maybe, she could make James jealous.

"Okay, Remus, I'll go with you, do you want to come down to breakfast with me?" she asked.

"Yeah sure," he said with a genuine smile on his face.

They made their way down to the great hall and sat together at the end of table. Lily was actually having a nice time with him. He was funnier than she thought and was actually laughing at something he said when James suddenly leaned on the table in front of them.

"Remus can I have a work with you?" he demanded more than asked through gritted teeth.

"Actually, James, I'm kind of in the middle of a conversation." James opened his mouth to respond, but Lily cut him off.

"And, I'm pretty sure this conversation doesn't include you," she said coldly. James stared at her with furrowed brows, but quickly resumed his natural air.

"Fine, but don't be late for our meeting tonight Evans. We really need to get started on the dance," he said and then quickly walked away.

Lily's friends, who had walked in just in time to witness the scene, were grilling her through Transfiguration later that day.

"What was that all about?" asked Jill. "I'm really confused."

"Yeah, so am I. What happened?" Farren added.

"I'm trying to play a prank is all," Lily said in a dismissive manner.

"Whatever Lily, just tell us what happened this morning and how you ended up talking to Remus. And don't skip the details," Janet said quickly.

So Lily recounted what had happened earlier that morning and the night before and finished with an apologetic look towards Farren.

"Lily how am I supposed to complete my end of the prank if the guy I'm supposed to be making fall in love with me is asking you out and you're saying yes?" Farren said exasperatedly. Unfortunately Professor McGonagall began to hear their muffled voices.

"Ladies please be quiet. Back to your studies," she said sternly and returned to the papers piled on her desk.

"Listen after this weekend he's all yours alright?" Lily whispered. "I'll talk you up, but Remus will end up being easy for you. James is like the most difficult one."

"Excuse me," Janet cut in, "but I think Sirius is going to be hard to crack."

"Oh please, he's a sex fiend and you are one of the most gorgeous girls in school. I don't think you'll have a problem once you actually start to try," Jill said.

"Yeah that's just it though. I have to make a sex fiend fall in love with me without having sex with him. Can we say IMPOSSIBLE?" she said already defeated.

"Ladies, this is your last warning. Get back to your work unless you want a detention!" Professor McGonagall threatened. The girls turned back to their work until finally class was over.

They separated in the hall agreeing to meet up in the dorm after Lily's Head meeting and try to help each other out with the boys.

Later that evening Lily was standing outside the Head room preparing herself when she heard footsteps behind her. She spun around to see William walking slowly over to her with a small smile on his face. She smiled back at him. He was tall and just as handsome as any marauder, but they had dated and broke up too many times for Lily to take him seriously anymore. Still, when he pushed back his long dark blonde hair she felt a small flutter in her stomach. She was a teenager and he was good looking, what else would you expect?

"Hey Lils," he said.

"Hey, William. What are you doing down here?" she asked glancing around. If James saw them together she could practically kiss the prank goodbye for good.

"Looking for you," he said and reached out to grab her hand. Lily let him.

"And why were you looking for me?" she asked eyeing him suspiciously.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to Hogsmeade this weekend. I miss you," he said seriously.

"Oh, I'm sorry William, but I'm already going to Hogsmeade with Remus," she said regretfully although she never would have gone with him anyway. He dropped her hand and looked at her in confusion.

"I thought you hated those guys," he said and he was right.

"Well I guess we're trying to work out our differences. I really must go the meeting was supposed to start like five minutes ago," she said. He leaned towards her slightly.

"Can I at least have a quick kiss on the cheek before I go?" he asked hopefully. Lily thought briefly before nodding.

"Sure," she said. She leaned in to kiss his cheek when the door to the Head room flung open and James stood there looking confused. Lily pulled away as quickly as she could hoping he didn't notice anything. James' eyes darted back and forth between them before finally settling on Lily.

"You're late," he said without real emotion of any kind.

Lily waved a quick goodbye to William and pushed James back inside the door and followed him in. She settled in on her normal couch before she realized that someone else was in the room with them. Sirius sat in a chair by the fireplace smirking at her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.

"Calm down Evans. I'm just here because James and I want to talk to you about something," he said staring at her intently. Lily leaned back slightly and looked over at James who was sitting down on his couch.

"We know you guys are up to something," he said eyeing her just as intently as Sirius and she attempted not to squirm under his gaze.

"What are you talking about? Who's up to something?" she asked as innocently as she could.

"Come on. Farren all over Remus, Jill asking Peter to Hogsmeade, you trying to be so nice to me last night, and you and Remus going to Hogsmeade together," he stopped and Lily could see his jaw clenching. She couldn't help but let out a brief, sarcastic laugh.

"Nice to you? How is your cheek this morning? I was disappointed to see that my hand didn't leave a permanent imprint," she said and she saw Sirius glance quickly over at James out of the corner of her eye. James said nothing and eventually Sirius turned his attention back to Lily and she met his gaze evenly.

"Well whatever is going on it sure isn't normal," he said, "And Janet asked me to help her with potions, which I'm failing. Something is definitely not right."

"Well," Lily started, "Maybe we just feel that all of this fighting between us is just getting old. We think we should be friends," she finished lamely. The space between Sirius' eyebrows narrowed in disbelief.

"Okay well then maybe we should all meet at Hogsmeade and have a butterbeer or something," he suggested. He was testing her, but this actually worked out perfectly for her. He was going to play her game, but she was going to win.

"Oh, I'd love to, but I'm going with Remus," she said pretending to be deep in thought, "But I guess we can all meet up around 2 or so." She shot him her best seductive smile and bit her lip to try to break his unwavering gaze on her. His eyes wavered ever so briefly that she wasn't sure he actually had lost control.

"Sounds good to me," he said, "See you then." Then he got up and left the room.

James started the meeting as if that whole conversation never happened. They decided on 'Couples Throughout History' theme and ended the meeting pretty quickly.

When they got back to the dorm later James immediately walked over to his fellow Marauders and Lily's friends began heading towards the stairs to begin their own meeting. Lily followed behind them and could literally feel Sirius and James burning holes in her back so she turned around, gave them a wink, and blew them a kiss before disappearing up the stairs after her friends.

All of the girls sat on Lily's bed and listened as she quickly recanted what had happened in her meeting.

"You asked Peter to Hogsmeade?" Farren asked Jill.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty excited. Big turn off," she replied.

"So I'm pretty much the only one getting nowhere," Janet said. "I'm definitely going to need help with Sirius. I had no idea he was failing potions."

"Well at least he's not asking Lily out," Farren offered.

"Good point," Janet said weakly.

"You know, I don't think Sirius is going to be as difficult as you think," Lily said and the girls looked at her like she was crazy, "Well think about it. He sleeps with a girl and moves on. I think he would be incredibly attracted to a girl he couldn't sleep with. Lead him on a little to get him interested and then instead of sleeping with him try to get to know him. I bet no girl has ever done that."

The other girls seemed to think that was as decent a plan as they were going to come up with for Sirius and spent the rest of the night discussing what they were going to be doing next to ensure the boys fall head over heels for them.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next chapter you will find out a little more about James and Lily's past and have some Janet/Sirius action! Hopefully will be posting it tonight. Please review!**


	4. Let's All Be Friends

And Chapter 4! I didn't get much of a response on the first three chapters, so I took a bit of a break, but after a few PM's I figured I would give it another go!

FLASHBACK

Lily rolled off one of the couches in the head room and right onto James who was lying on the floor next to her. He made a groan as Lily giggled and placed a soft kiss on his lips. James opened his eyes and stared in awe at Lily and lifted his head to give her yet another kiss. It was a warm Saturday afternoon in late September and the sun was shining through the window and glimmering off of Lily's red hair.

"You are so beautiful," he murmured as he nuzzled her neck. Lily let out another giggle and rolled again so that she lay right next to him. They laid in silence for a few minutes just enjoying each other's presence.

It didn't take time for their forced niceness to become genuine. Once all of the petty pranking and teasing was set aside it didn't take long at all for the two of them to realize how much they had in common. At first, it was hard, then it was fun to joke around with each other, and now they wanted to spend every minute together. It had happened so fast that neither one of them had time to think about what they were doing, and before they knew it, they were a secret couple.

"So, when are we going to do it?" James asked seriously. Lily raised an eyebrow at him questioningly with a small smirk on her face. "Not that!" James recovered quickly, "I know that's coming soon," he said with a wink. Lily let out a laugh as he continued. "I meant tell our friends about us..."

Lily shifted uneasily and sat up. She glanced down at the still laying James unsure of what to say. As much as she wanted to tell her friends, it just really did not seem like a possibility. Their differences as groups ran too deep and she didn't want to deal with the drama that would unfold from both sides as soon as the news of the two of them broke. Not to mention right now their relationship was in a perfect little bubble. Everything that happened in this room was perfect and Lily was pretty certain that if they took it out of these walls the magic would be gone and the strain of their friends' opinion would weigh down on their relationship.

"Well. I mean- Do you think? Uhhmm-" Lily continued to stammer as James lifted himself up so that he was sitting across from her and took both of her hands in his and shushed her.

She looked up at him and knew that he understood what was going on inside her head. He brought her hands up to his perfect mouth and gave each one a soft kiss. Lily stared longingly at James. If someone would have told her a month ago that she would be sitting here with James like this she would have slapped them and told them to never mention the name James Potter ever again.

Now James Potter was the only thing she could think about. Every time she saw him her knees went weak and her stomach did flip flops. His kisses were soft and gentle and his eyes held far more than pranks and games, and she was so happy that she got to see that. She started to notice the things that used to annoy her as little quirks that made her smile like the way his hair was so messy and how he would spend half the day making sure it was perfectly messed up, or when she would notice him and his friends planning pranks, but now that she knew she wasn't a target, it was adorable to see how hard he worked on them.

"Come on, Lil," James started, "If I love you how could my friends not? And I know I could charm your friends." At this, James put on a semi-sarcastic smug look, and then quickly changed to a serious one. "I don't want to hide us anymore. I want to be able to kiss you in front of the whole school instead of pretending like you don't exist. I want the whole world to know that you are mine," he finished quietly and looked down. Lily sat silent for a few seconds.

"James, I want the whole world to know too. It's just that, I mean, even if we managed to get my friends to like you and yours to like me they would never like each other. And I don't want that. If they could be friends on their own terms it would be easier, besides do you really want to go through what you're going to get when they find out that you've been hiding this anyway?" she asked and looked at him.

"It doesn't matter to me Lily, as long as they know. I want to be with you in public. I've already made up my mind. I'm telling them in a week with or without your permission," he said. Lily's jaw dropped and her eyes began to frantically search James' face for a hint that he was joking. There was none. "I'm not hiding anymore, you can decide whether or not to tell your friends but they will find out either way. I'm sure they would rather hear it from you."

"But James that's not fair! This should be a mutual decision not just yours! Besides, it's your fault were not all friends anyways! If you and your friends hadn't played all those stupid pranks on us," Lily half yelled. James looked at her and let out a small laugh. Lily smiled to herself. "Well I may just deny it," she said as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I've made up my mind. BUT on to a different subject," James sat up very straight and suddenly there was concern and worry in his eyes. "I saw you talking to William today after Transfiguration." Lily shifted uneasily as James continued. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, it was nothing. He just wanted to take me to Hogsmeade this weekend and catch up." Lily looked down at her hand as she finished not wanting to see James face. "No big deal," she added.

"No big deal?" James questioned, "He's your ex-boyfriend. You didn't say yes did you?"

"Well, yes, I mean I would like to be friends with him. He's not a bad guy." Lily looked up to see James looking put off and slightly rejected. She could tell that he wanted to say something as he took a deep breath, but instead he blew it out in resignation and looked up at her. He stood up and headed towards the portrait hole. Lily's eyes followed him in confusion and as he was about to step out he turned around.

"You have one week to decide if you _really_ want to be with me. If you do we tell our friends. If you don't then this has to end. I don't want to be a secret," he said and then disappeared into the hallway.

End Flashback

The next morning Lily was woken up by Janet screaming gibberish into her ear.

"Rise and shine, Lily bumpkins!" she said rather cheerily, "Jill and Farren have already gone down to eat."

Lily raised her blankets over her eyes and rolled over. Janet let out a humph and decided to try a different tactic.

"ACCIO BLANKETS!" Lily's blankets flew from her bed and to the floor by Janet. Lily threw a little tantrum in her bed and then sat up.

"FINE! I am up, are you happy?" Lily shouted rather grumpily. Janet just let out a laugh and threw Lily her clothes. She got ready rather quickly and then the two girls were headed down to the great hall. Before they reached the entrance they ran into Nearly Headless Nick rambling madly. He stopped as he saw the two girls and then turned around to head in the opposite direction.

"What's the matter with you Nick?" Lily asked curiously. Janet took a step back. Even though they all knew the ghosts were nice Janet was deeply afraid of them. Nick turned back around to look at them.

"Oh, it's nothing really. Just that blasted Sirius Black, I swear every day I find him snogging a different girl and frankly I'm quite sick of it," He responded and then went on his way. Lily turned to look at Janet who looked defeated. Lily threw an arm around her friend and pulled her in the direction of the Great Hall.

"I told you it was going to be impossible," Janet said as they walked into the great hall.

"OY! Ladies over here!" Lily turned to see that the source of the voice had been James and everything from the night before came back to her. She let out a small groan, but then smiled as she saw Remus smiling and waving her over. Janet and Lily stumbled over to the boys and saw that Jill and Farren were already sitting with them, both raising their eyebrows as Lily and Janet sat down.

"Good morning," Lily said as she helped herself to some eggs. James smiled at her, but then quickly changed his look into a glare. Lily quickly looked the other direction to see Sirius stumbling through the entrance to the great hall with quite a surprised look on his face to see everyone eating together. As she looked around, she realized they were getting a lot of those looks from all over the hall.

'Oh, grow up,' she thought to herself as she began to eat her eggs. Sirius walked over and took a seat next to James.

"What's going on here?" he asked. Trust Sirius to get right to the point. No one spoke so he nudged James.

"Nothing we're all just eating TOGETHER. You know, as FRIENDS," he said through gritted teeth. Sirius looked absolutely disgusted. In fact, the only person that seemed to be okay with this arrangement was Remus.

"I think we came on a little too strong too early," Janet whispered in her ear, "This is too much." Lily stifled a giggle.

"So, Lily, I was thinking maybe we could leave around 10 for Hogsmeade tomorrow? That way we have plenty of alone time before we have to meet up with the gang," Remus said, receiving a death glare from James that went unnoticed. Lily tried not to wince at the word 'gang' and shrugged off Remus' ignorance as indifference.

"Uh, sure Remus that would be great, but I have to go now," Lily quickly stood up taking everyone off guard. She was quickly followed by Janet, Jill, and Farren. No one was going to sit at that table longer than they had too and they quickly walked to Potions which was their first class of the day and sat down and began to talk seeing as no one else would be coming for at least fifteen more minutes.

"Man, I don't know if this was such a good idea," Farren stated. "They are obviously on to us, not to mention my guy is thrilled to be going to Hogsmeade with Lily." Lily looked at her and couldn't believe what she heard.

"We can't stop now! We have never backed down from a bet or a prank, and this is both. Yes, it is hard but just think of how good it will feel when we do it! I know it seems impossible, but all we really need to do is think small. We should really just try to be friends with them. No funny business until they believe us."

"Yeah," Jill put in, "But at the same time we need to make ourselves more noticed. Make them pay attention to us, but then act like we are not interested in them. You know, make them confused."

All of the girls seemed satisfied with this new tactic and became lost in thought thinking about their men. Before they knew it, the class was full and the lesson was beginning. None of the girls could concentrate on the lesson though. They were all too concerned with the group of guys huddled in the corner.

"Well, maybe they actually just wanted to be friends," Peter whispered to the group of boys making sure no one could hear.

"Yeah, and I'm the bloody tooth fairy," Sirius replied. This brought a smirk to James face.

"Well, actually, you-,"

"Oh, shut up James," Sirius said as he punched James playfully. "I'm just saying, why after seven years would they want to be friends now? They don't care about us at all, they never have."

James felt a small pull in his stomach at these words and thought of a certain red head that he knew at one point cared about him very much, or at least he had thought. He began to wonder if she still did. He hadn't been able to completely get over her. That's why he held on to his anger. As long as he held on to his anger he would never be tempted to go there again.

"Well, they may want to be friends because they feel stupid for not being friends with the hottest guys in school and now time is running out!" James threw out with a cocky smile. Sirius shot him look.

"Maybe," he said disbelievingly. "I just don't trust those girls. But it is too bad we aren't friends. They are all bloody gorgeous."

All four boys turned their heads in the direction of the girls, all of whom were fidgeting with their quills and parchment, and crossing and uncrossing their legs. At that moment, Lily looked over at them and they quickly looked away. All except for James who remained with his eyes locked on Lily's searching for some feeling that might remain in them. Lily gave him a sad smile and turned back to her paper.

"Man, what I wouldn't give to get in those pants at least once," Sirius said looking at the girls. "You know even though we don't get along we could have a better conversation with them than any other girl in school."

James suddenly felt a longing for the days when he and Lily would have day long 'meetings' and just hang out together and talk. He pushed the thought aside and scolded himself. He couldn't go there again. Not after what had happened between them.

Later that night, Janet was pacing through the halls hoping to run into a certain someone. She had transfigured her skirt so that it was VERY mini and unbuttoned a few buttons on her shirt so that some cleavage showed. She was silently praying that she didn't go through all of this for nothing. She didn't usually dress sleazy, but she was desperate to catch his eye in a positive way and apparently this was the kind of thing he liked.

She was trying to convince herself that she could do this. She could pull Sirius Black without having sex with him. She knew she had what it took to get any boy, but this one was tricky and extremely handsome. She wiped her palms on the short fabric of her skirt as she was walking down one of the halls when she noticed that one of her shoelaces was untied. She swiftly bent over keeping her leg straight so that her bum was up in the air and began to tie her shoe. As she stood up she felt the presence of someone behind her and quickly turned around and there he was Sirius Black, looking her up and down with interest plain in his eyes.

"Janet," he said and began walking towards her.

"Sirius," she said as she fought the urge to step backward, thankfully there was a wall behind her. Sirius came right up next to her and looked her in the eyes. Janet's insides began to roll around backwards and forwards, right and left, so hard that, she had to fight to keep her balance.

Finally her brain began to work again and she began to set her plan in motion. She took a step to the right and he blocked her path. She then switched gears and took a step to the left and her path was once again blocked. She sighed and leaned against the wall. This caught Sirius off guard so he took another step towards her hoping to see her squirm, but she did not. She held her cool.

Sirius leaned against the wall next to her and let out and identical sigh as his eyes took in her gorgeous legs in that short skirt. He was looking questioningly down at her legs when she finally spoke up.

"So what is it Sirius?" she asked.

"What is what?" He asked in return. "I just thought I would stop and say hello to my new friend," he said leaning into her a bit more.

Janet let out a small, sarcastic laugh.

"Whatever," she said, "And by the way, I don't need your help in potions. You were right next to Sarah Burke in the class list and I must have got the lines messed up when I was looking at grades. When I looked again I saw that you were failing. Why would you say yes to tutoring me if YOU don't even know what you're doing?"

Sirius faltered the way she hoped he would, but he quickly recovered.

"I figured you just wanted to spend some time with me," he said with a quick smile as he pressed himself up against her.

A jolt shot throughout her body and she tried to remain calm. She suddenly felt the urge to kiss him. She was a teenager with a very gorgeous guy in front of her, even if he was a prick. Sirius lifted his hand and ran it down her left arm feeling the smoothness of her skin.

At that moment, both of their knees went weak with butterflies going crazy in their stomachs. They both had to close their eyes to regain their composure. Neither one could believe that they had just lost control. Janet immediately stepped away from Sirius and down the hall without another word. Sirius, speechless, watched her go rooted to his spot.

Once they were both sure that they were separated by several castle walls they both hit their palm to their foreheads, both frustrated with themselves, neither one believing they had just let their guard down in front of the enemy. Little did they know that the other was completely unaware of the others mistake.

Thanks for reading! The next chapter will involve the Hogsmeade trip and we'll finally find out what really went down between James and Lily! Hope you enjoyed it! Please Review!


	5. Deja Vu

Okay guys, so I've decided to rededicate myself to this story! After taking my hectic schedule into consideration, I'm comfortable saying that I plan on uploading at LEAST one chapter a week. Some weeks there may be more, but definitely at least one until it's finished and I start on something new!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that came from the brain of J.K. Rowling. **

**Flashback**

It was the morning of the Hogsmeade trip and Lily was walking by the lake with her friend Severus. Lily had a soft spot for Severus because he was picked on pretty much more than anyone else. They became friends back in second year when they paired up for a DADA project together. They we're discussing what they planned on doing after they left Hogwarts for the umpteenth time when suddenly Severus' feet were ripped out from beneath him.

After the shock of seeing him be flipped upside down in the air, the laughter behind her registered. Infuriated she turned to face the marauders. Sirius was holding one wand up in the air, clearly holding Severus up and twirling a second, clearly Severus', around his fingers. Peter looked smug standing next to me.

"Put him down, Black," she said through her teeth, pulling out her wand. Sirius laughed.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked rhetorically.

Lily turned to look at James who was doing his best to go unnoticed. She gave him a pointed look and he shrugged at her.

"Stop him," she said directly to him. Sirius raised his eyebrows as he looked over at James. James took a second to evaluate the situation.

"He's a slimy git," he said with another shrug. "He deserves it."

"Expelliarmus!" Lily yelled before James had even completed his sentence and thankfully caught Sirius off guard. He flew backward as Severus' wand flew neatly into her hand.

Severus fell to the ground with an unpleasant bump. He jumped up, snatched his wand from Lily's hand, and ran off before the marauders could do anything else to him. Lily shot one last glare back at the laughing marauders before running after him.

She got all the way to the grand entrance hall without any sight of him. She looked around, but she knew there was no way she was going to be able to figure out which way he had gone.

"Lily," she heard a soft voice say behind her. She turned to see James standing there.

"Stay away from me," she said putting a hand out. James took a step back.

"Come on, Lils. What was I supposed to do? They would know something was up, and _you_ don't know if you want that," he said with an accusatory tone.

"You promised me you could stop them from picking on my friends," she said.

"And we have," he said, "We haven't touched your-,"

"Severus is my friend," she said, her hands clenching into fists. James rolled his eyes, but put his hands up in the air in surrender.

"Okay, okay. My bad," he said taking a step forward, but Lily took a step back before he could close any distance.

"We'll talk about this later," she said, "Right now I just need some space."

James watched helplessly as she walked out of sight.

Later that day, the streets of Hogsmeade were filled with Hogwarts students excited for the first trip of the year.

Lily found herself walking the streets right beside her ex-boyfriend William. Lily didn't waste any time letting William know that they were just friends, and even told him that she was sort of seeing someone, then proceed to complain about him relentlessly. William steered her right into the Three Broomsticks as she spoke and into the booth they used to always share before they broke up. It was a nice table next to the window that looked out over the busy main street.

Things with William fell smoothly into place and Lily was really starting to think they could be friends. Their conversation flowed easy and even when she was complaining about James he could still make comments to make her laugh.

"So how are the terrible marauders? Still giving you and your friends shit?" he asked with a scowl on his face.

Lily hesitated a moment. Of course, William wouldn't know that the person she had been complaining about was James and he would never assume that the person she was seeing was a marauder.

"Not exactly," she responded. "We aren't really bothering each other so much. They seem to be laying off, at least a little bit," she said thinking of Severus. "Who knows maybe this year we'll all learn to get along." William let out a short laugh of disbelief. She looked away biting her bottom lip trying to think of something to say to change the subject.

"I have something for you," William said, and the booth next to him. "Come over here."

Lily looked at him sideways, but got up to move over. "What is it?" she asked, sitting down next to him.

"Close your eyes," he said, and she complied.

Suddenly Lily felt the familiar pressure of his lips on hers. For a moment, she was too shocked to move, but once James passed through her mind. This kiss didn't have the butterflies that his did, and it didn't make her feel weak like his did. Her eyes flew open and the face before her was too similar to the one inside her head. Outside the window stood James, looking in at them, his eyes wide and his face paled.

Lily felt her eyes widen dramatically as James turned on his heel and darted away. She shoved William hard off of her.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. "I thought we were just going to be friends. I'm seeing someone."

"Lily, you know it's supposed to be you and me. Kick what's his name to the curb," William said leaning back.

Lily quickly jumped out of her seat and ran towards the entrance of the Three Broomsticks ignoring the protesting shouts coming from William. She yanked open the doors and began to run down the street searching frantically for James. When she didn't see him she continued to run down a nearby alley. Alone in the alley she felt her eyes begin to burn with tears, but surely she would find him and be able to explain what just happened. She ran through all the places in Hogsmeade that she knew James liked to go.

Just then Lily's thoughts were interrupted by a voice she definitely did not want to hear.

"What the HELL was that Lily?" William asked from behind her. She slowly turned around to look at him and when he saw she was crying his facial expression softened a bit. He leaned against the alley wall and some of his blonde hair fell in his face. Lily looked coldly at him. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"What's wrong?" she whispered. "What's WRONG?" she asked again a little louder. "Why did you do that? Why did you kiss me? I thought this was to be friends William. I would never have come if I would have thought you wanted more. The guy I'm seeing just saw you kiss me," Lily shouted. William shook his head at her.

"Nobody saw, Lily," he said trying to calm her down. "The only person outside the restaurant was James."

After he heard the words come out of his own mouth, he tilted his head a little and looked over at her with his brows pulled tightly together. Lily just looked at him.

"No," he said. Again, Lily just stared at him. "You're joking."

William ran a hand through his long blonde hair and turned to walk away.

"William," Lily finally spoke up. He stopped and turned back to look at her. "Please don't tell anybody."

William pressed his lips together and shook his head. "Believe me. This is something that I'm going to try very hard to forget."

End Flashback

Janet stumbled into the portrait hole and quickly changed her skirt back to regular length and buttoned the buttons on her shirt. She leaned back against the wall and let out a deep sigh.

"Where have you been?" Jill asked with a smirk on her face. Janet let out a tiny exclamation of surprise, but then relaxed when she realized who was speaking. She casually walked over to where Jill was sitting and sat down in the scarlet arm chair right across from her.

"Working on you know what," she said casually and once again let out a deep sigh.

"We should think of a code name for that," Lily's head popped out of nowhere and she settled herself on the floor between the two. "Like, slumber party or pillow fight," she suggested with a smile. Janet shook her head.

"If we think of a code name, it should probably not be a combination of words that is sure to attract all male attention."

Lily laughed and Jill shifted in her seat and leaned forward inquiringly.

"So, how is that going?" she asked raising her eyebrows at her.

"Not so great. I don't know how the hell I'm not going to break the rules," she said exasperatedly. A weird look came across Jill's features as she brushed her auburn curls behind one ear and pursed her lips as though biting back something to say. Then suddenly she burst out laughing, her white teeth showing off in her big smile.

"You think you're going to fall in love with Sirius Black? Come on, Janet. I know we have been spending a teensy tiny bit of more time with him, but come on, that's just insane. We can't stand him. And you most of all hate him and how cocky and calm he always is," Jill continued to rant as Janet sat there patiently.

"Are you finished now?" she asked when it seemed as though she had reached a stopping point.

"Yes."

"Good," Janet exclaimed. "So now I can tell you what a moron you are. OF COURSE I WOULDN'T FALL IN LOVE WITH SIRIUS BLACK you twit." She finished in a whisper. "I'm talking about the other rule. Even if he is a prick he is gorgeous and I just want to lure him into my room and … and… well you get the point." She finished lamely.

Jill let out another giggle as they heard a banging coming from the girl's stair case. They looked up alarmed, but found that it was only Farren. She walked over to them and sat down on the floor.

"What's goin' on?" she asked. Twirling her long blonde hair around her right index finger. Jill looked at Janet who sighed yet again.

"Janet thinks she's going to break a rule," Lily said with a smirk on her face. Farren's eyes went wide and then quickly narrowed upon Janet who squirmed in her seat.

"You think you love Sirius?" she asked in all curiousness. Janet stood up abruptly and looked down at Lily running her hands through her black hair.

"NO! NO! NO! The OTHER rule! The OTHER rule!" she exclaimed, "I'm going to bed."

As she walked away the three girls looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles.

The next morning, Lily woke up to find Farren sitting up in her bed.

"Hey Fare," she said with a yawn.

When Farren didn't answer Lily looked at her a little more closely and noticed that her face looked very pale.

"Farren? Are you okay? What's the matter?" Lily walked over and sat on Farren's bed. She slowly looked up to Lily and shook her head.

"I don't know what's wrong. I just had a nightmare. It was terrible people were dying. It seemed so real Lil's. I'm scared." She said as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Lily didn't know what to do so she began to rub her back.

"Don't worry, Farren, it was just a dream. You should go take a shower and clear your head," Lily suggested. Farren nodded silently and then got out of bed and walked slowly to the showers. Lily frowned to herself and began to wake up Jill and Janet.

After her shower Farren seemed to be feeling incredibly better and was all smiles as the four girls headed down to breakfast. Thankfully, the marauders were preoccupied, so they took their usual secluded spot at the end of the table. As everyone dove into their breakfast the girls were busying themselves talking about quidditch, and the recent win of Gryffindor against Ravenclaw.

"So that means if Ravenclaw beats Slytherin next week we have the quidditch cup in the bag," Jill said talking rather animatedly.

Suddenly, about 14 very tamed looking ministry owls flew into the Great hall carrying black envelopes. Lily glanced over at Farren and saw her face go pale. She quickly turned back to examine the hall. The birds circled the hall and slowly began to land in front of their envelopes owners. A gloom had settled in on the dining hall. It didn't take a nightmare for everyone to know that something terrible must have happened.

Lily turned back around to face her friends and noticed everyone looking even more pale than before and staring at Jill. In front of her was a black envelope.

Jill began to cry before she even opened the envelope. She read it silently more and more tears spilling down her face by the second. She ran from the hall without saying anything to her friends. All three girls sat rooted to the spot. Lily looked at Farren who was shaking uncontrollably and then down to Jill's plate where the letter still remained. She slowly picked it up and scanned it. She put it down and closed her eyes.

"Her father," she whispered and then burst into silent tears herself. All three girls began to cry unsure of what to do and Lily looked instinctively towards James who was looking at her with concern written over his whole face. Lily couldn't take it and she got up and ran out of the hall. She ran to the common room, the dormitory, the library, the astronomy tower, and then proceeded outside trying to find Jill with no luck.

As she ran towards the quidditch field she began to hear someone calling her name behind her. Lily knew the voice and stopped in her tracks and turned around to find James running towards her alone. He slowed down as he got closer and stopped about 3 feet away from her.

"Lily," he said as he looked towards the ground. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely and Lily noticed that this may be the first time he wasn't fidgeting or playing with his hair. For the first time since that fateful Hogsmeade trip he seemed to truly let his guard down to make sure she was okay.

The second she realized this she ran to him and buried her face in his chest and began to cry harder than she ever had. James wrapped his arms around her and held her very tight. They stayed that way for a very long time.

When she pulled away James placed a light kiss upon her forehead. Lily looked up at him with her tear stained face. James' face looked pained and he took a step back.

"I have to go," he said. Lily understood. This was just a moment. Nothing had changed, and she watched as he made his way back inside the castle.

Lily didn't know what to do. Her mind was reeling of so many things. Where was Jill? And wherever she was, was she okay? What had happened to all those kids' families?

As she stepped back into the castle a voice came overhead that stretched throughout the whole school.

"PLEASE EVERYONE RETURN TO THE GREAT HALL FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DUMBLEDORE."

Lily did not want to listen to what Dumbledore had to say, but figured she would find her friends inside so she went. As she walked into the Great Hall she found Farren and Janet crying and hugging each other. She walked over to them and joined the hugging and crying. She turned her face away from the girls trying to recapture some state of calm when she saw James begin to walk by towards his friends. She caught his eye and mouthed the words 'thank you' to which he nodded with a look of all seriousness on his face.

Dumbledore stood up and began to speak about the reasons why things happen. He spoke of a senseless attack and urged them all to stay strong and do their best to return to life as normal.

"We do have all of the victim's children safe. So for those of you worried about your friends I assure you they are okay and in good hands and on their way home to meet up with surviving family." Dumbledore continued. "The Hogsmeade trip this weekend is still on and  
I urge all of you to go. Show this evil that he cannot affect or community." Lily felt the space between her brows narrow at the mention of Hogsmeade. "Of course I leave this decision entirely up to you." Dumbledore finished and then walked out of the great hall.

"Go to Hogsmeade?" Janet repeated numbly. "Who can even think of Hogsmeade?"

They didn't spend much time thinking about it. Hogsmeade was still two days away. Dumbledore ordered classes to continue that day, but none of the teachers assigned any work. Instead everyone visited and talked about what happened.

Lily noticed that Farren hadn't said a word all day and that night she lowered herself onto Farren's bed.

"How are you?" she asked quietly. Farren just shrugged. "Do you think you're dream was a vision?"

"I know it was," she said quietly. Lily felt her stomach knot up.

"I can't understand who would do such a thing," she said.

"His name is, Voldemort," she said, without a trace of doubt. "And he's terrible."

"Did you see Jill's dad? In your dream?" she asked.

Farren didn't respond, but Lily got her answer in the lone tear that ran its way down Farren's cheek.

A couple days later, it was the morning of the Hogsmeade trip and Lily was surprised at the turn out. Most people had returned to normal as if nothing had happened, but she was having a harder time doing that.

She was surprised when Remus asked her if she still wanted to go, and even though she didn't feel like going she didn't want to cancel on him either. Besides, she really wanted to get out of Gryffindor tower so she could stop being reminded of Jill's empty bed. Thankfully no one else really wanted to go, so they got to cancel the group hangout.

When they arrived at Hogsmeade they agreed to simply go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink. They sat next to each other in a booth and sipped on their butterbeer as they looked out towards the gloomy day.

Remus turned out to be the perfect company for Lily. He was understanding and sensitive in a way that she didn't know a marauder could be, and Lily found herself hoping that no matter what happened in the future, that her and Remus would always be good friends.

"I can't believe this has happened," Remus said again and turned to look at Lily.

"I know," Lily replied looking back at him.

"And I can't believe so many people are acting as if nothing happened," he said eying a young group of kids that walked by the window laughing. "I hope whoever did this is caught soon." He said looking thoughtful, "Who can be that powerful?"

"I would rather not talk about this," Lily said thinking of Farren and the unknown Voldemort. "I'm sorry. I just don't think I can take it anymore."

Remus looked over at Lily and nodded in full understanding. They sat staring at each other for a few seconds and a small smile crossed his face.

Suddenly Lily felt the pressure of his lips on hers. She closed her eyes momentarily enjoying his kiss, but it didn't take long for James to pass through her mind. This kiss didn't have the butterflies that his did, and it didn't make her feel weak like his did. Her eyes flew open and the face before her was too similar to the one inside her head. Outside the window stood James, looking in at them, his eyes wide and his face paled.

Lily felt her eyes widen dramatically as James turned on his heel and darted away. She slowly pulled away from Remus.

"I'm sorry, Remus," she said. "I think you are an amazing guy and I really want to be friends, but, well, someone else has my heart," she finished honestly.

"Of course. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-," he stammered and Lily placed her hand on his arm to calm him.

"Don't be sorry," she said. "But maybe it's time we head back."

Remus nodded and they headed back to Hogwarts making small talk. The common room was mostly empty when they got there and Remus went up to his dormitory. Lily was about to go up to hers when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned to see James standing there. She glanced around the room, but no one was paying any attention to them.

"James, that wasn't-," she started to explain, but he cut her off.

"You know I really don't get why you didn't want to tell anyone about us, but now you can be kissing one of my best friends in public," he said, and Lily cringed. His voice wasn't full of anger, but pain.

"It wasn't what it looked like," she said softly. James took a step back and let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Right. Just like last time, right?" he asked, but walked away before she could answer.

"Yes. Just like last time," she muttered under her breath before heading up to bed.

**Thanks for reading! Next chapter we will see some of James' reaction to the Lily/William kiss and maybe something unexpected might come out of the Lily/Remus kiss! Stay tuned!**


End file.
